Why do these two bars look like this and what can I do about It?
It looks like you have used the Remove Rests command in those two bars.
Try this: select the bar rest immediately before the first of the two empty bars and press " R " twice.
You might have to turn off multi-bar rest consolidation first.
Alternatively, activate the caret in each empty bar (double-click or shift-I), open the Bars & Barlines popover (shift-B) and type rest, then press Enter.
Thank you! The last trick worked, and it’s going bodily into my notepad notes.